Long division

TUSCALOOSA -- When city schools Superintendent Louise Crawford started to address the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education at its meeting last week, a tense silence fell over the handful in attendance.

Already, the meeting ˇ called to consider a possible compromise between white board members and Black Elected Officials of Tuscaloosa County ˇ had begun on what one board member euphemistically described as "a difficult note."

Two white board members, Bryan Chandler and Milton Pearson, were criticizing Crawford's impassioned public stand days earlier that she and the Black Elected Officials of Tuscaloosa County group would not accept anything less than a new high school in west Tuscaloosa.

And now, Crawford was offering her rebuttal.

"Mister Pearson," Crawford began from the podium.

"Doctor Pearson," Pearson corrected.

"Mister Pearson," Crawford repeated.

"Doctor Pearson," Pearson said again as other board members and the audience watched the volley of words in embarrassed disbelief.

In many ways, the exchange, though brief, reflects the logjam in communication and cooperation that has become synonymous with Tuscaloosa City Schools in recent months.

Even as the system prepares to open its two new flagship high schools, Paul W. Bryant and Northridge, the pride and excitement one would expect from the community is increasingly overshadowed by the dark cloud of controversy surrounding the future of the third high school and the system's leaders.

Tuscaloosa resident Mike Hartley, whose two children graduated from Central, said he feels only one emotion when he thinks of Tuscaloosa City Schools these days.

"I'm absolutely disgusted. You've got no leadership in there right now, and what leadership you do have has gotten directed by special interests," Hartley said, referring to Black Elected Officials and private developers who believe building a school in west Tuscaloosa will spark economic development.

Hartley said he doesn't buy Crawford's recent claims that some board members have threatened her and her family, and he questions why the chief executive officer of the school system would feel the need to surround herself with lawyers and church members.

"I'm all for free speech, but it divided her and the board even more when she did that," he said of Crawford's comments at a recent meeting sponsored by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

Following media reports of the SCLC meeting, Crawford issued a statement that all future questions and comments will be handled by her attorneys. On Friday, Crawford's secretary, Carlton Carter, said those attorneys are Sue Thompson and Dennis Steverson, although she later said she was not certain.

When contacted, Thompson said that questions should be forwarded to Steverson, who could not be reached for comment Friday. When asked whether she represented Crawford, Thompson did not respond directly.

"Her secretary cannot hire an attorney for her," Thompson said.

A e-mail request for an interview with Crawford Friday regarding her leadership and the school system was met with an e-mail response from Robert Coates, interim director of testing, assessment, guidance and grants.

Coates wrote that the school system's public relations office would provide written responses for any questions regarding "official school business" and that "any questions not directly related to official school business will be addressed through Dr. Crawford's personal attorneys."

"Please be advised that Dr. Crawford does not wish to make any public comments or answer any questions surrounding issues of a personal nature," Coates' response continued.

Late Friday, Crawford responded to The Tuscaloosa News' inquiry with her own written response, saying that any rift between school officials has not affected day-to-day operations of the school system.

"Some will have you believe that the system is not Űclicking along' as usual, but a quick look into any of our schools this time of year will prove the opposite," Crawford wrote.

City schools Personnel Director Walter Maddox, who also serves on the Tuscaloosa City Council, agreed.

"That's just one slice of a big pie," Maddox said of the debate over Central's location.

Maddox said everything is on schedule for the August opening of Bryant and Northridge, including the hiring of new teachers to staff the two schools. A bulk of the system's hiring takes place in the summer months, and Maddox said he has heard no complaints or concerns from those interviewing over the current unrest within the school system.

"I think they know this issue is going to be resolved soon," he said.

As for her own leadership and relationship with the school board, Crawford listed in her statement some of the awards she has received in the last year, among them the Alabama PTA Outstanding Superintendent Award.

"A healthy relationship exists where there is a balance of powers between the board of education and the office of superintendent," the letter states. "When operating under the law, we may disagree, but the balance of powers insures that no individual or entity operates outside the rules and regulations outlined in the Code of Alabama, 1975."

Former school board member Olympia McCrackin, one of three blacks on the previous appointed board, conveyed a similar viewpoint in a recent letter to the editor, to which she directed a reporter who called for comment.

Still, the tension at last week's meeting may indicate larger problems and a decline from the more collegial days of not so long ago.

Just months ago, the school board accepted a national award for working together to meet students' needs.

Amilcar Shabazz, director of African American Studies at the University of Alabama and a close observer of the city school system, said the problems began brewing as far back as 2000 when a judge granted the system unitary status, releasing it from almost 30 years of federal court supervision.

No longer forced to prove it afforded equal opportunities to black and white students, the then-appointed school board immediately began making plans for multiple, neighborhood high schools, rather than one centralized, large high school.

Shabazz said the move was made with little public debate ˇ at one point, the board took a poll that found a majority in the community was against multiple schools ˇ and the conflict the school system is experiencing now is the result of years of pent-up frustration.

"We're catching it all now haphazardly on the back end," Shabazz said.

Tuscaloosa City Councilman Joe Powell, who opposed the switch to an elected school board in 2001, said the current rifts among board members and the superintendent are examples of the sort of factionalism he feared would appear under an elected board.

An appointed body, like the one previously selected by the City Council, might be more comfortable standing by its decision to keep Central on 15th Street, without worrying about public opinion, he said.

And while he believes a vigorous and healthy debate is always good when discussing issues of the public good, Powell said the school system's leadership is heading in the wrong direction now and that a decision has to be made.

"The board and the superintendent, they've got to get themselves together and have a big love fest and get on with it," he said.

Fellow Councilman Kip Tyner, a personal friend to Crawford, said he is hesitant to get the City Council involved in the dispute over the school's location.

"I feel there are too many voices in the mix already, which perhaps is causing more harm than good," Tyner said in a written statement to The News Friday.

Tyner said the decision on where to locate the school should be left entirely to the superintendent, the board and the parents of the children who are zoned to attend Central.

"What is best for those children and their education should be the ultimate concern," he said.

Joyce Sellers, superintendent of Tuscaloosa County Schools, also was reluctant to offer her view of the situation facing her sister school system, but she admitted her concern.

"I am hopeful they will be able to resolve their issues, and I'm confident they will," she said.